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June 4, 2018

India Army is said to pare down rifles order to 250,000

The Indian Army will place an order for only 250,000 modern assault
rifles -- just a third of its total requirement -- driven by budgetary
constraints and the need to speed up deliveries, a person with knowledge
of the matter said.

The 1.3 million-strong military pruned its
original requirement for 800,000 rifles, which would have cost $2.5
billion, to prioritize spending and advance the purchase of more
up-to-date equipment, the person said, asking not to be identified as
the information is not yet public.

The defense force has 450,000
infantry troopers, of whom only half go into ground battle and use the
rifle as their primary weapon. The rest are support soldiers, the person
said.

The moves are part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s $250
billion push to modernize India’s armed forces, as infantry continue to
face the brunt of deadly attacks in disputed border areas such as
Kashmir and the north-east. Plans to buy new equipment from overseas,
however, have been held back by bureaucratic delays and the military’s
desire to balance the needs of its troops against efforts to build
equipment domestically under Modi’s ‘Make in India’ program, a key plank
in his drive to boost local manufacturing.

A scouting team will
be leaving later this month to meet with foreign rifle-makers including
Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC, Italy’s Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro
Beretta S.p.A, Swiss Sig Sauer Inc., the Czech Republic’s Ceska
Zbrojovka and Israel Weapons Industry Ltd. to identify the most suitable
weapon, the person said.

To meet the requirement of the rest of
the force, the Army intends to make do with a mix of 400,000
Kalashnikov rifles and the India-made INSAS rifles. The Indian Army’s
shopping spree for small arms was triggered by its decision to phase out
the two decade-old INSAS rifle, introduced in the late 1990s and built
by the state-owned Ordnance Factory.